Is Cat Bite Much Worse Than A Dog Bite?

‘A cat bite is much worse than a dog or rat bite. It’s the worst animal in the UK to be bitten by,’ according to a medical practitioner from Chelsea & Westminster A & E .

‘Their mouths are filthy, swimming in bacteria. But because it’s so rare that they bite, it’s not widely talked about.’

Dog bites turned infectious around 15 to 20 percent of the time, but cat bites do in 50 percent of cases because cats have thin, pointy teeth, which effectively inject you with bacteria.

Even if you wash the wound immediately, chances are you won’t get the bacteria out. In this kind of situation, incision on the bite marks must have been necessary to flush out the bacteria and treat the infection.

‘People do need to be educated that cats are the most dangerous animal in the UK to be bitten by,’ according to Dr. Suranjith Seneviratne a clinical immunologist from London’s Royal Free Hospital and of Nuffield Health The Manor Hospital (Oxford).

The danger could be particularly severe when the bites inflicted were on the wrists.
As Dr. Seneviratne, explains: ‘The wrist is packed with tendons and blood vessels, so infection can be pumped to vital organs very quickly and cause them to fail in extreme cases.’

The worst scenario if the cat that has bitten is infected with Pasteurella multocida and Staphylococcus aureus the outcome could be lethal.

‘If bacteria such as these travel from the soft tissue of the hand into the bloodstream, they can go to vital organs such as lungs very quickly, and can absolutely cause death,’ according to Dr. Seneviratne.

This is because they can trigger sepsis, where the immune system goes into overdrive and begins attacking the body, leading to organ failure.